Lowy Institute announces former Indian Foreign Secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran as the 2015 Telstra Distinguished International Fellow

The Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, Dr Michael Fullilove, today announced that Ambassador Shyam Saran will join the Institute as its 2015 Telstra Distinguished International Fellow.

‘Ambassador Saran is a distinguished career diplomat who has played an important part in India’s rise in the world. A former Indian Foreign Secretary with postings to Beijing, Tokyo, Myanmar, Indonesia, Ambassador Saran has served as the Prime Minister’s personal representative at G20, G8 and climate change summits. As the Prime Minister’s personal envoy, he was integral to shaping the historic US-India civil nuclear agreement signed in 2006’, said Dr Fullilove. 

 ‘I am delighted to welcome Ambassador Saran as the Lowy Institute’s third Distinguished International Fellow.  I have no doubt he will make an important contribution to the Australian public debate about the role of India in a changing world’, he said.  

Ambassador Saran said: ‘I feel honoured to have been invited to serve as the 2015 Telstra Distinguished International Fellow. I look forward to the opportunity of sharing perspectives on a range of regional and global issues with Australian interlocutors and opinion leaders’.

Ambassador Saran will deliver the Owen Harries Lecture while he is in Australia. The Lecture honours the great contribution Mr Harries, a Nonresident Fellow of the Lowy Institute, has made to the international policy debate in Australia and the United States.

Ambassador Saran will visit Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra between 9–20 November for events, meetings and media engagements.

The Lowy Institute is delighted to continue to partner with its corporate member Telstra as sponsor of the Telstra Distinguished International Fellowship.

Telstra’s Group Executive of Corporate Affairs Tony Warren welcomed the appointment and said ‘The extraordinary experience Ambassador Saran brings to the table will add a new and very valuable perspective on Australia’s unfolding sense of its place in Asia and, in particular, its engagement with India. His voice and ideas are most welcome and I’m delighted Telstra has been able to play a small role in facilitating his contribution through the Fellowship program’.

___________________________________________________________________

Ambassador Saran is the Lowy Institute’s third Distinguished International Fellow. The inaugural 2013 Distinguished International Fellow was former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Dr Kurt Campbell. Former US National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley was the Telstra Distinguished International Fellow for 2014.